Be there for a stu­dent at break­fast

Male men­tors sought for event at Dade Mid­dle School

Billy Earl Dade Mid­dle School in South Dal­las wants to make sure stu­dents have a male men­tor avail­able for its first dads break­fast.

The school is look­ing for 50 or more male vol­un­teers for its “Break­fast with Dads” event at 8:30 a.m. Thurs­day. School ad­min­is­tra­tors and the event or­ga­nizer, the Rev. Don­ald Par­ish Jr. of True Lee Mis­sion­ary

Bap­tist Church, are work­ing to have men­tors for stu­dents who might not have a fa­ther at the gath­er­ing.

“When a young per­son sees some­one other than their teacher take in­ter­est in them, it in­spires them. That’s what we want to see hap­pen,” Par­ish said. “These kids need all the sup­port they can get to be suc­cess­ful.”

The mid­dle school has worked on im­prov­ing its aca­demic stand­ing in Dal­las ISD. Low test scores, high prin­ci­pal turnover and in­ex­pe­ri­enced teach­ers have been ob­sta­cles Dade has faced in re­cent years. As Texas Ed­u­ca­tion Agency test scores show some aca­demic im­prove­ment at Dade, Par­ish said the school is work­ing to get com­mu­nity lead­ers and or­ga­ni­za­tions in­volved to men­tor stu­dents out­side the class­room, too.

Par­ish said the school hopes to do another com­mu­nity men­tor­ship event in the spring.